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Parent and Community Engagement Plan
In order to best support the whole student, we have to consider every element of the student’s life. The student’s support system consists of three parts: family, school, and community. By engaging parents and community in the school, we can fully support the student and help them to be successful. According to Epstein (2009), “When parents, teachers, students, and others view one another as partners in education, a caring community forms around students and begins its work.” Epstein (2009) discusses the overlapping spheres of influence theory in which the external model recognizes the three major areas of support (family, school, and the community) can be drawn together or pushed apart. In this model, some practices are conducted separately, and some are jointly to influence learning and development. Students are always at the center of the model. As educators we need to be sure to encourage our students to develop agency over their education. Epstein (2009) reminds us that students are “most often their parents’ main source of information about school.” Programs with strong partnerships are aware of this fact and keep the student at the center while seeking to learn more about the student role in the partnerships. Creating a partnership between parents and educators only leads to a more successful student. Bringing in information bout the community through various forms can help to strengthen this relationship as well. Another key factor in parent engagement is reflection. As an educator, we must be reflective practitioners and to be aware of the constant changes within our community and be willing to adjust our plan to fit the needs of our students. Not every class will look the same, and not every student will be the same. Our ELL parents also face several barriers to engagement within the school. Arias (2008) identifies these as school based barriers (a deficit perspective, a unidirectional approach, and a negative school climate), a lack of English language proficiency, parental educational level, disjuncture between school and home culture, and logistical issues. The school my children attend and that I hope to someday work in doesn’t have a particularly diverse population. Of the student body, 76% identify as white, 11% as Asian, 8% Hispanic, and 5% as two or more races. The ELL students in our school are largely from families originating in India and speak Hindi at home. I feel that our school does a good job with parent involvement for their non-minority students, but we could do better at engaging the rest of our parents. The school in which I am doing my observations does an excellent job of involving their parents from all backgrounds. The school has partnered with a learning center to run a program for parents of ELL students to come in and learn English at the school. The school has monthly PASS (Parents of Academically Successful Students) meetings during which there are targeted conversations about race and problems faced by their parents and students. During these meetings childcare and food are provided as well as translators for most languages spoken at the school. These meetings are widely attended by most parents, but particularly by parents of their students of color. The school also holds Padres Unidos meetings which are similar in nature to their PASS meetings but are primarily for their Hispanic families. Within these meetings, there is an emphasis on listening to parents and the concerns of those parents for students and families. My favorite part of this school’s plan was what they called mini-conferences. These are taking the place of a traditional back to school night and providing parents a time to really talk to their student’s teacher. During these conferences, parents are encouraged to tell the teacher about their children and express hopes, dreams, goals, problems, and more. The goal of this is to remove the intimidation factor of back to school nights when everyone comes. They can also allow for a more private conversation and allow teachers to better know their students. Epstein’s six types of involvement are parenting support, facilitating communication, encouraging volunteerism, fostering home learning, involved decision making, and community collaboration. Parent and Community Engagement Plan Support Parenting: ''' 1. Rather than a traditional back to school night, I would present the idea of mini-conferences to my school administrators and implement that within my classroom. In providing parents the opportunity to share their goals for their students with me in this manner, I would be starting that partnership from the beginning of the school year and encouraging it to get stronger. In allowing parents to share concerns about their students, I’m also supporting them as parents and showing them that I care about what they need as well. I would provide community resources for parenting as well during this meeting. '''Communication: 1. I would use or create a class website on which parents and students would be able to see assignments, what we are working on in class, and homework. The website would also contain all of my contact information as well as that of the school. 2. I would ask parents at the beginning of the year what their preferred form of contact from me would be. In doing this, I can either email, call, or text parents based on their preferences and have a better chance of keeping that line of communication open. 3. Parent-teacher conferences would be regularly scheduled with the ability to schedule an in-person, phone, or skype conference outside of those conferences. I would also like to provide a translator for my non-English speaking families. 4. Newsletters/emails/contact parents in their native language if at all possible. Volunteering: 1. On the class website, I would create links to several sign-up geniuses to volunteer within the school or classroom. I would have volunteer opportunities within the classroom, for at home projects, and for field trip chaperones. These volunteer opportunities could include a seasonally changed bulletin board, cleaning the classroom, helping during library, reading to the class, assisting with literacy centers, and more. I would provide more volunteer opportunities than I actually need in order to allow all parents the option to come into the classroom or help at home. I would create at home projects that could be done for parents who cannot come into the classroom due to work schedules as well. 2. I would also link community volunteer opportunities on the website for both parents and students to participate in. I could find opportunities as well and include a field trip in my class to visit a location that uses volunteers. Home Learning 1. I would link apps and games on the class website for students to use at home to practice what we are doing in class. Spelling City, Raz kids, Starfall, BrainPOP, and Discovery kids are all examples of these websites. 2. I would ask a librarian to come in and give a presentation to my parents and students about homework help programs and other programs available for students. 3. If I have the ability, I would provide parents with e-copies of text books so that students had access to math and/or literacy books at home without having to bring the big books home. 4. Teach parents how to help their students at home through setting up a homework area, giving clear expectations for homework, and how to best support their students in their homework. Decision Making: 1. I would provide parents access to parent organizations and meetings through the PTO by creating a calendar with links on the classroom website. 2. I would be sure to communicate any and all public school meetings to my parents with advance notice so that they could participate in any decision making and have their voices heard. Community Collaboration: 1. Communicate activities available within the community for students through email, flyers and the class website. 2. Bring in community members to tell students about things available to them, like library programs, rec center programs, and more. 3. Create a brochure with commonly used community resources (English classes, free medical clinics, libraries, rec centers, etc.) to provide to parents and students. 4. Collaborate with local agency to provide a family literacy program for either low or no cost for my ELL parents. References Arias, B.M. and Morillo-Campbell, M. (2008). Promoting ELL parental involvement: Challenges in contested times. Education Policy Research Unit, & Education and the Public Interest Center Epstein, J. L., Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C., Jansorn, N. R., & Van Voorhis, F. L. (2009). School, family, and community partnerships. Corwin Press.